Seeker
by GodKazuhiko
Summary: A troubled young girl manages to summon two servants to participate in the upcoming Grail War. One is a seemingly harmless old man and the other is another troubled young lady. Follow these three in their quest to fulfil their goals and to free the young girl from the shackles which bind her. Rated M for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: As Harry's height has never been specifically mentioned at least not as far as I know I am taking some liberties here even though it has been stated that he was about the same height as his father who was described as tall. I do this both for the impression I am trying to portray and because malnutrition doe stunt growth along with other factors.**

 **"Death will be a great relief."-Katharine Hepburn**

A man walked in the valley between life and death. It was a huge place with the ground covered with grass and flowers with some trees littered about. There were two huge walls of rock on either side of the wide valley. He had the face of an elderly mortal that had seen the horrors of war. Yet those atrocities had not blinded him to the bright side the better side of humanity for he was the one who walked on the edge of life and death and had witnessed the greatest that humanity had to offer just as he had the worst. His body seemed to be frail under the large clothes but underneath the disguise of frailty was a body forged through the flames of war and destruction.

His lone emerald green eye could see more than a man in his prime with both eyes could ever hope to see. His eye was able to see the Truth, for there is no greater truth than the souls of men and women. His shoulder length white hair flowed down in waves caressing his neck and falling gently onto his shoulders. Although he was short at the height of 5'6 his very presence radiated his power, at least those who were able to detect it for it was carefully concealed.

His body was clothed in a grey suit over which draped a huge, flowing silver robe. The robe was so large on his small frame that it seemed to make him look minuscule and weak. The wooden staff which he carried in his right hand only served further emphasise the impression of feebleness. His round wire rimmed glasses framed his face and highlighted the large scar that went down his left eye and ended just a few centimetres above his upper lip. He also happened to have a faint scar on his forehead that was barely visible in the shape of a lightning bolt.

If any had seen him they would not be able to believe that this man was apart of the 10 most powerful entities in existence. Although his scar looked to be fearsome most would ignore it as it just didn't fit with the rest of the kind and gentle old man they could see, indeed most ignored it thinking that he obtained it during war. However that was the undeniable truth, he was one of the few beings that even gods feared beings as he held the power to end all life on a whim if he so desired. Not that he would of course as that would mean entirely too much paperwork for him to deal with and he already had enough as it was, damn those humans and their petty wars. Such was the pain of being the universes primordial force of Death.

Just as he was about to turn around to go back to the office; he felt a tugging sensation centred on his gut. It reminded of the old days when he was just learning how to use his magic without a focus. Especially on the more difficult spells. After all magic could accomplish anything so long as you had the power, focus and strength of will to make it happen. Unfortunately very few had all three of these qualities.

The mortal mind could only handle so much before being damaged as almost everything has a limit. It was why so few of the wizards and witches from his home-world were able to use wandless magic. Every universe had magic flowing through it, for just like Death it was a universal concept. It was apart of the multiverse and that would not change in the foreseeable future. The only difference was whether or not the inhabitants of the universe were able to access the magic.

Death could not be manipulated without permission because it had a Master, Magic unfortunately or fortunately was not the same.

He had the potential to be the Master of Magic, but that would require that he actually work for it and dominate Magic as it had a certain level of sentience. Just as all multi-universal concept had. Another reason he refused to master Magic was because he did not feel like dealing with the paperwork that came with being the Master of a universal concept. Just because he was good at it didn't mean he liked doing it. After all if he had learned one thing from age, it was the fact that it felt wonderful to relax and be lazy at times.

Of course he wouldn't mind the benefits that would come with it but he had decided long ago that he would only become the Master of a universal concept if another was trying to take control of that concept. And that was only if he thought that the person who was attempting it would cause a lot of trouble.

After all Death knows that the Master of Life was an annoying prat but at least he did do his job. He could certainly do without the whole "life is precious and you can't end it just because you want to Harry-chan" curse the fool that got him addicted to anime.

Anime. It was the bane of his existence, now he liked it just as much as the next person but he could do without that idiot annoying him because of it. Life was so much easier back when he was an ignorant fool living his life and was unaware of anime being alternate universes. Honestly this was his reward for dealing with the prejudice of the European magical community. Did him becoming the Head of the DMLE and later the Minister of the British ministry of Magic mean nothing?

Of course it didn't, he was bloody Harry 'fucking' James 'bloody' Potter, nothing would go right for him because Murphy's Law despised or loved him depending on your perspective and Fate just loved pissing him off.

Damn that meddling little control freak. He knew she was ugly old hag behind that facade of an innocent and cute young girl. Living as long as he had he'd learnt to with as there was no point crying over spilt milk. Besides he had gotten over it eons ago. It turned out that Fate was one of the Angels the previous Master of Life created while bored and lonely.

She was the Death be damned creator of Murphy's Law which she blessed upon her most amusing playthings. She certainly regretted messing with him as he taught her that 'if your going to mess with someone's life don't make it easy for them to gain greater power than yourself'. Honestly if there was one thing he had learnt it was that with great power comes great loss of common sense. Thankfully he had learnt that early on before he became a Master due to the antics of wizards. Besides while he could deal with her, the meddling gave him some much appreciated vacation and it kept his life from getting dull and boring.

That tugging sensation had returned stronger than before. Getting slightly frustrated with it he zoomed into the connection and followed it back to its source. "Well what do we have here; Akasha is giving an unobstructed pathway into her multiverse. And do I sense traces of Fate's power. Oh this I can't ignore after al it's been a while since my last vacation." He said gleefully while rubbing his hands manically. "Well Akasha let's see where this leads you annoying old bat" shouted the old man to nothing before diving into a portal that opened up beneath him.

As soon as he passed through a portal there was an explosion of power and he felt a tendril of power slamming into his mind with all the grace and subtlety of a five year old with a truck. Remembering lessons from times long past he surrounded the tendril in his power and dominated it bending it to his will. "Ah I see I've been dragged to that world. Oh and what is this you're trying to place me in one of those annoying class systems, now that just won't do you unruly child. I'm quite capable of making my own class and I prefer to make the restrictions from my own power you see" he explained to the tendril from what he now knew to be the Grail. "Although I must say you remarkably corrupted so once this trip is over we'll see about making you one of my minions." The small shard of power shrieked in return but he was having none of that and quickly shut it up. "Now now you must respect your elders especially seeing as I can't be bothered with teaching you some respect."

He hastened to create his own class that would suit him. He looked through the classes and decided to model his own after the archer class. He did after all enjoy his independence. And he certainly had great eyesight despite his glasses and shut left eye. His main class ability would be heightened reactions. He would be able to see farther than anyone other than Archer and his weakness would be his awful luck similar to that of the lancer class. Other than that he would ensure that his power was restrained and that it would be restricted to a fraction of the power of his sealed form. It wouldn't do to be too powerful and curb stomp everyone after all he was a fair and reasonable man.

With that done he let himself be dragged through the second exit portal just before sealing the memory of what happened from the Grail. Just as he excited he felt another also be summoned and a burst of smoke hid the other from his view. He decided to allow it to disperse naturally instead of helping it along. As it left he felt out the powers of those around him.

His fellow servant felt ancient and had the distinct power of the serpent embedded deeply within them which made him thankful that he had regained his parseltongue ability. Their master contained some of the grail within her and was tainted because of it, but he could feel that she was somewhat pure and her power was quite high from one as young as her and she had a lot of magical potential.

The smoke had finally dispersed and he was finally able to look at his master. She was young, not even 16 yet, and had violet shoulder length hair and eyes. She wore a pink ribbon in her hair on the left side. She wore a white shirt over which she had a pink cardigan and her lower body was covered in a long cream coloured skirt. She was a short girl even shorter than him although she was quite developed in the chest department.

Turning his head to the side he looked at the kneeling women "I am servant Rider I ask of you are you my master?" She had long purple hair that cascaded down her back and a cover over her eyes. She wore a very small dress that only went down to a little less than mid thigh. Her legs were covered by long black socks with purple rings at the top and some purple armour on the tops of her shoes. Her arms were covered by black half sleeves adorned with purple rings.

"I-I" breathing in deeply "yes I am your m-master, it-it's nice to meet you my name is Sakura Matou" she answered bowing. Coughing to get their attention he announced "I am servant Seeker and it is a pleasure to meet you young one" turning to Rider "And you partner". Sakura just stood there staring at the old man wide eyed having never heard of the servant class Seeker and unable to believe that she had summoned two servants.

"I apologise if I am being forward but I have no knowledge of the servant class Seeker, are you able to explain that?" questioned Rider.

"As a matter of fact I can. You see from what I have gathered so far is that this is a irregular grail war as there are not usually eight servants, although there may be more. My class in itself is new and has never been used before. Indeed I should not have been summoned but as we can see from the young mistress' hand she has six command seals. Also while it is quite unusual for one so young to have the power to summon and maintain two servants I believe this is because the young mistress has more power than the average child her age. If you are worried about overtaxing her you need not worry so much, as I have a skill that allows me to maintain myself for a decent amount of time before needing more prana. So unless we engage in battle I will only need the young mistress to provide me prana for a few hours every 2-3 days. I believe the skill is similar to that of the Archer class's independent action." explained the old man.

"Okay I shall accept that for now, but I must ask why you call the master, mistress?" replied Rider.

"Well while I am aware of the fact that all masters are called master regardless of gender I would prefer to be grammatically correct. Unless of if young Sakura would like me to call her master" answered Seeker. "So young Sakura would you prefer me to call you master."

"Uh you can uh call me whatever you want" replied Sakura nervously while looking at the floor. Only to look up as felt a hand on her head, as the old man ruffled her hair. "There's no need to be so nervous kid" he said smiling "although for now I'd prefer it if we can keep the fact you summoned two servants quiet. So to help with that I shall stay in spirit form and if we need to communicate I shall use the connection between us to telepathically talk to you. Okay?"

"Okay. But do I have to hide it from everyone?" responded Sakura curious as the whether she would be able to tell her love interest.

"Unless they are already aware of magic and you believe you can trust them I don't see why not. Besides what I tell you is simply advice, whether or not you accept it is another thing and well I am simply your servant so if you really wish you could disregard my advice" he answered before dematerialising.

 **AN: If you spot any errors please inform me of it in a review. Thank you for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I would like to thank everyone who has either favoured or followed this story as I appreciate the support. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Sakura with Rider beside her left to inform her grandfather of her success in summoning a servant. Rider walked silently beside her while sensually swaying her hips. Although Rider was a servant she was less a Heroic Spirit and more of a Divine Spirit; this meant that she could sense divine energy to a degree.

This naturally meant that she curious about Seeker as she could feel a faint trace of divine energy emanating from him. Now this meant that she found it difficult to trust him as in her past she had some distressing experiences with the Gods of her time.

As a result of these experiences she planned on keeping her eye on him until she had determined his identity and intent for the grail. She also planned on never leaving him alone with her master unless there was no other option. Nonetheless they were still servants to the same master, so for the time being she would be discreet in her suspicions.

She jumped up in shock when she heard a voice in her head _"what's wrong my dear? You seem troubled."_ She heard from a voice that sounder eerily similar to "Seeker?" she questioned in a quiet voice.

 _"Indeed who else would it be, your fairy godmother?"_ he responded.

"How are you talking to me?" she asked ignoring his comment as she didn't truly understand it.

 _"Do you not recall me telling you and our mistress that I would contact you through the command seals?"_ he asked _. "Ah which reminds me"_ he said connecting to their mistress _"Sakura dear, please enter a room" he ordered._

"Huh, uh okay Seeker" she replied sounding startled, which was understandable really as she had been in a pleasant daydream. Looking around she entered the first door she saw, which just so happened to be a dungeon. She closed the door for privacy so her mysterious servant could materialise.

Seeker materialised behind her in the centre of the room. Tapping into Sakura's reserves to give a more authentic performance of him being a normal servant he cast a series of privacy charms.

"What was that?" his mistress asked in a confused tone having seen him wave his glowing hands around and the drain of her magic.

"Ah it's lovely to see you being curious and that my dear was me cast a few spells to ensure our privacy. Now I should have done this earlier but I seem to have forgotten. Give me your hand girl" he commanded holding his left hand out.

Sakura feeling compelled to listen to him for some reason placed her right hand in his.

"Not your right hand I meant your left, the one holding your command seals" he corrected with a sigh massaging the bridge of his nose. Ducking her head she switched hand and as he waved his glowing right hand over her command seals laughed. It was a soft laugh that Seeker found to be quite endearing.

"What's got you laughing" he asked with a frown.

"It tickles" she said placing her hand over her mouth. Looking down at her hand to see what he did, she let out a gasp staring at her hand in shock. Believing she had found a way to escape from the war she looked up at him only for him to cut her off before she got to say anything.

"Now what I've just done is placed a very powerful illusion over your seals to hide the extras from view." He told her seeing the disappointment in her eyes as he did so. "That means that although some of your seals look to have vanished they are still there, beneath the illusion.

"In spite of the fact that the illusion is powerful it does have a time limit of 24 hours, so I will have to recast it every day, preferably at night. Which" he told her casting a spell to display the time "should be a problem as it is 10 minutes past midnight."

Blinking in shock at the time Sakura hurried upstairs in a rush to reach her grandfather's office. The reason for her rush being that she feared that if she stayed up any later she would be too tired to wake up the next morning. Something she refused to allow as she loved helping her sempai making breakfast.

Her sudden rush however caught the two servants by surprise and Seeker only just managed to dematerialise before the door fully opened. Rider unfortunately was completely caught off guard and it took a few seconds for her to recover.

Running to catch up to her she was lucky that Sakura hadn't gotten far as she did not know reinforcement. Something that Seeker took notice of and decided to gather more information before jumping to conclusions as he did in the past.

As she arrived outside her grandfather's office Sakura leaned against the wall opposite it to regain her breath. While leaning there she decide to prepare herself for the meeting.

As she breathed in and out she slowly fell into the dark area of _nothingness_. An area that was free of everything. It helped in controlling her emotions to prevent any unnecessary outbursts. It would serve her well in the meeting she was about to participate in.

A meeting with her adoptive grandfather. The head of the Matou family. A _monstrous_ being who could no longer be classed as human. Although that was a discussion for another night.

Her grandfather was not someone she wished to anger for a number of reasons. One of the main ones being that she wished to continue visiting the home of her love interest. The home Shirou Emiya, for not only was it the home of the one she admired it was also the only safe haven she knew. A haven that protected her from the cruel world.

A world created by her failures. Her failure to be a worthy daughter for her father and mother. To be worthy for her sister Rin, whose responsibility was to help her as her older sibling. Her failure to be strong. Her failure to admit her feelings for her sempai.

Yet despite all this and more she still had hope. Hope that one day Shirou would love her. Hope that he would save her. Hope that Rin would be punished for abandoning her. Hope that she would be free.

But none of that matter in this moment. So having prepared herself she with Rider to her right stood straight and walked up to the door and raised her hand. However that was as far as it went as all her nerve had run out on her.

Leaving her alone and afraid with a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. But she was distracted from such feelings as she felt a stinging sensation or her backside. This resulted in her face heating up.

 _"I recommend you rid yourself of the thoughts that are clouding your mind. You are a strong young lady and you obviously have a wish. Something that will forever be out of your reach unless you move forward. I'm going to tell you something an old friend once said '_ _Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate'._

" _I shall stand behind you for as long as necessary. So discard your fear. Quit hesitating. Raise your goddamn hand and_ fucking _knock!"_ She heard from the strong voice of her servant within her head.

Feeling much more confident and empowered from her servant's pep talk. Sakura raised her fist and sharply rapped it on the door thrice. Feeling the drain from her command seals Sakura felt more confidence than she had ever felt before. Something she attributed solely to the fact she knew she had at least one person behind her, even if he was her servant.

Seeker smiled as he saw the effects of his words on the shy girl, feeling proud of himself. He also noticed how her shoulders seemed lighter as if a burden had been lifted. He also realised that she reminded him a lot like a certain grandchild of his.

Small, young and afraid. A quit and timid child on the outside, but with a core of steel on the inside. Not to mention she was quite developed for her age.

Something that had him resolving to help the girl grow out of the shell that she encased herself in. Although he kept the fact that it was too early to accurately judge her character at the back of his mind. But that was something he could easily fix given some time.

Be that as it may though he still planned on enjoying himself even though he planned on helping her. After all he knew that this universe contained some fairly powerful beings that he could fight against and if the servants prove to be dissatisfying he would try them.

Another reason for coming was that he didn't get to visit this universe much. It was really too much of a hassle dealing with Akasha and the other Masters to get here. He found it to be annoying but understood that it was among their favourite universes. Another reason he didn't get too angry about it was because it was the home of Time.

But now that he was here he was planning on letting loose. It was simply too bad if the others had a problem with this as they had let him in without much fuss. Besides they didn't truly understand the troubles of being the Master of Death. It was one of the harder Master roles along with Love, Sorrow, Misery and Life.

Alas it had seemed that he had to end of his musing as a voice from the other side of the door called out. Hearing the call, his mistress opened the door. As the door opened to reveal the person on the other side he felt a searing wave of animosity rush through her.

Deciding that his mistress needed some help he gave her some support in controlling her emotions. He felt that it was acceptable as the man was detestable and because Sakura was still young.

The only thing Sakura could think of was how much she hated the man opposite her for all the suffering and pain he had caused her and continued to cause. However she quickly calmed herself down, burying her emotions deep down; something she found to be almost effortless which surprised her.

The man before them had his hands clasped behind his back with a walking stick in his right while facing the window. Turning around the man looked at his mistress in a way that thoroughly disturbed him.

Zouken Matou was a cruel and sadistic monster that enjoyed the suffering of his grandchildren; especially that of his adopted grandchild Sakura. And it showed in his soul. It was truly a soul tainted by sin.

He was a short, bald old man. His head was like a deformed wrinkly potato, which had roughly been moulded into shape by a five year old. His scleras were black like the abyss, with small white pinpricks for his irises. He did not appear to have any pupils. His neck was bent giving him a stooped look.

He wore a green kosode with hakama pants that were of a darker shade of green. Hanging on his body was a black haori. Gripped in his right hand there was a dark brown walking stick. "So this is your servant girl. What class is she?" he said looking at the blindfolded servant in perverse glee.

"She is of the Rider class grandfather" answered Sakura in a quiet, submissive tone.

"Huh is that so. Well remember girl if you fail to fight in this war I'll have the crest worms activate and you wouldn't want that would you?" he sneered at her weakness when she lowered her head. "I look forward to seeing what your servant does in this war. Now be a good girl and get out of my sight"

Leaving the room with a slightly rushed gait, Sakura hurried away to get to her room to sleep so she could wake up early the next day. But she never reached her destination as she collapsed. Luckily Rider was able to catch her before she fell, proceeding to hold her in a bridal carry with her head resting on the elder woman's shoulder. As the world turned black around her she felt Rider's worried sightless gaze on her.

Rider gazed at her master in concern. Before remembering she needed help, causing her to look left and right in hope for some support. And Fate provided her the guidance she required in the form of an old man, that happened to be her fellow servant.

 _"Calm down brat. You panicking is not going to help our master at all. Now if you listen to me we'll make it to her room and I'll see what's wrong with her as I have some experience in healing. Do you agree?"_

Silently nodding her head to signify her acceptance Rider listened to his directions following them to the letter. This lead her to arriving before the door to the room which Seeker claimed to be her master's. Slowly opening the door she looked around the room.

It was a very simple and clean room. Directly in front of her was a large window with some plants resting on the window sill. To the right was a wardrobe and desk, while to the left was a table and futon upon which she placed her master. As she closed the door she searched the room for her fellow servant only to see him materialising next to their master.

She witnessed him wave his glowing hands around and felt a few bounded fields come up around them, what impressed her was how difficult they were to detect as she was very sensitive to magic. Then he walked around the room and physically searched for any bugs, though she didn't know why as from her grail knowledge magi and technology did not mix.

"Not all magi are going to be unable understand technology and I believe in being vigilant so that I'm not caught off guard. There is always someone better than you so I believe it's best to be prepared, no matter how unlikely it is that someone will defeat me" he answered her unasked question. Only once ensuring there was no way for another to observe them did he act.

"Okay those are temporary and won't last for more than a few hour but they should be sufficient for now." He told her referring to the wards he set up. "Rider I need you to make sure that no one spies on us, as from what I have noticed you have above average senses. I have some experience with healing magic so unless it's something severe I should be able to heal her without any specialist equipment" he told her.

Seeker looked upon the girl for a few seconds before retrieving his old holly wand for the delicate magic he was about to use. Sending a body numbing spell paired with a body binding charm at her he began to diagnose her.

Sending plethora of spells at her to narrow down his search radius he found some very disturbing information. Wishing to confirm the information he created a hologram of her, with some complex motions. The hologram revealed her naked body and showed him her insides, it being a very complicated healing spell that made him thankful for his countless eons of life.

Spinning it around to view it from all angles first to check her outer body. Next he started to pull the hologram apart to check her internal body. Unfortunately doing so only confirmed what his spells told him. He had found them, the worms that had grown in her body and merged with her nerves and her heart.

"Well now isn't this absolutely wonderful!" he exclaimed throwing his hand up into the air. Seeing the curious look on Rider's face he decided to explain what he had learnt. Although he was surprised at how much she was able to convey even with a blindfold on.

"You see my dear Rider it appears that the cause of her collapse was pain. Now that wouldn't really be such a big deal on its own as I know some spells and potions that can alleviate or help to deal with the pain. No the problem is what is causing her pain. I assume you remember the old man and the crest worms he talked about" he explained, while waiting for her nod to continue.

"Yes well those crest worms it seems are his familiars. Now I'll spare you the unnecessary but disgusting details. From what I was able to find the worms are in her bloodstream slithering around her body and are merged with her nervous system as you can see here and here" he said pointing at the relevant sections on the hologram.

"Wait are you able to see through that blindfold?" he asked realising a flaw in his explanation. He sighed as she shook her head. "Right well it doesn't really matter I suppose. So to continue the good news is that I should be able to expel worms in her bloodstream and body given some time. And now that I've softened the blow it's time for the bad news, I can't remove the ones that are connected to her nerves at this time.

"Well at least not without killing her. But there's not much to worry about all I have to do is acquire some equipment and I should able to deal with them." he finished with a smile.

"Now since that is done and dusted let's get to know each other. You see I'm a firm believer of teamwork, but to have good teamwork we are going to have to trust each other. And what better way to earn trust than to talk" he said seriously although he had a glint in his eye.

"I am fine with us not communicating much, thank you for the offer though. Besides aren't you going to be in spirit form the majority of the time, I see no need for teamwork if I shall be doing most of the work" she replied turning away to go sit on the window sill. As she sat there doing god knows what, Seeker was thinking of productive things they could do for the war while their mistress was asleep.

One of his thoughts was scouting the competition and city to find strategic buildings to launch attacks from. As knowledge was most certainly power for one who wielded magic as he did.

While he also thought of obtaining some allies, he decided to hold that thought until his mistress woke up. Hopefully makings allies would help to build up her confidence.

Deciding to change her into more comfortable clothes first, he looked through her wardrobe. Finding a set of pink chequered pyjamas he made a switching spell to change her. Folding what he assumed to be her uniform he set them down beside her.

"Ah well I can't force you to work with me if you don't want to, so suit yourself. Would you like to stay here and watch over our mistress or would you prefer to scout the city instead?" he asked.

"I'll stay" she answered curtly.

 **AN: If you have any comments or have spotted any mistakes please inform me of them in your reviews.**


End file.
